"The
images
of the dead in the swamp with dog tags in
their mouth, was the most
appalling
sight in the film and a vivid reminder of how
deadly war is."

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Based on James Jones' WW11 novel set in
Guadalcanal that
probes the
love/hate relationship between a tough, grizzly
veteran, Sgt. Welsh
(Warden),
and the young inexperienced Pvt. Doll.

The idea that war is insane is the underlying
theme. It
questions
the sanity of war. Sgt. Welsh prepares the men for
war by picking on
Pvt.
Doll unfairly, accusing him of not carrying out an
order even though he
knows that it was carried out. When Capt. Stone
(Daley) asks why he is
doing this to Doll, he is told that he is teaching
him not to think but
to obey -- that war is insane and that the sooner
his men will find
this
out then the better able they will be to survive in
the battlefield.
The
film's title signifies 'the thin red line' that one
crosses between
sanity
and insanity in a war situation. The captain's
response is that in
civilian
life we put men like Sgt. Welsh in mental
institutions, but in war the
institution we put him in is the army.

The Army company's immediate obstacle, even before
they can
get used
to their new war surroundings, is to traverse a
swamp field that is
land
mined and barbed wired and heavily fortified with
hidden machine gun
nests
along the swampy trails and on the hilltops. The
idea is to keep
pushing
the enemy back, which means retaking all the
previous villages that
were
taken, no matter the cost in lives to the soldiers.

Pvt. Doll is the first in his company to kill a
Japanese
soldier
and he does it savagely, leaving him with permanent
psychological
scars.
Doll uses the non-army issued pistol he stole from
an American soldier,
the gun is something that he fixed in his mind that
he needed to have
for
further protection and could not be talked out of
giving it up when
Welsh
discovered the theft. Doll's idea of surviving the
war is a bit
different
than Welsh's; he wants to know what he is doing at
all times, to think
things through for himself, to be thought of as an
individual, and most
of all to be in charge of his own destiny.

In combat Doll's company comes up against heavy
gunfire and
can't
push forward. The gung-ho Col. Tall's (Philbrook)
command to Capt.
Stone
is, stop worrying about causalities and take the
swamp at all costs.
Capt.
Stone is a symbol for the rational man caught in the
war, who is trying
his best to do his duty and look out for the safety
of his men. He
tells
the colonel that he can't obey his command. But Sgt.
Welsh comes up
with
a plan to climb the rocky terrain with ropes for him
and Doll, and to
let
the avalanche of rocks detonate the mines in the
swamp. When Col. Tall
appears on the scene the men are pushing ahead and
the blustery colonel
can only bellow, "What was all the fuss about?" The
gory combat scenes
and the heroics of the men and the craziness of the
war are vividly
photographed,
leaving one with mixed impressions. Perhaps,
wondering if this is what
it takes to win the battle and if that is so, is it
worth the price it
takes to accomplish the mission. The images of the
dead in the swamp
with
dog tags in their mouth, was the most appalling
sight in the film and a
vivid reminder of how deadly war is.

The next objective is to take the village but
before that
next offensive
can begin, Capt. Stone is summoned to the colonel's
headquarters and is
told that he is being removed from his command
because he doesn't have
the stomach for battle. He will be given a Silver
Star and assigned to
a rear guard desk job, and nothing will go into the
record about his
insubordination.
The look on the captain's face is priceless--it is
one of astonishment,
all the wind is taken out of him, and all he could
do is follow proper
military courtesy over the decision, fully aware
that he has just been
given a coveted position for something that he has
actually earned. But
for the moment he is overcome with disappointment
and regret for how he
has been treated by his superior officer and, by the
fact, that he is
being
removed from the men he feels responsible for.

It is now Capt. Gaff's (Gillen) outfit to command.
The men,
elated
with their victory, begin to celebrate by ransacking
the booty the
Japanese
soldiers left behind; but, their celebration is
short-lived as there
are
a number of enemy soldiers who escaped detection and
who are now hidden
by camouflage that blends in with the trees. Their
surprise attack
nearly
wipes out the company, leaving them with only 27
men.

The men get caught up in the spirit of battle, as
they
boldly climb
the top of the hill and take out the machine gunners
firing down on
them.
Doll becomes the hero, going beyond the call of duty
to lead the charge
on the hill. What results, is the complete
transformation of Doll into
a killing machine.

This version is quite different from Terrence
Malick's
depersonalized
1998 one. Marton shot his war film by personalizing
the men and simply
telling of the atrocities they faced. It was a
straight hard-nosed
story,
with no grandiose philosophical themes. Its message
might be read into
Sgt. Welsh' last words as he is asked: "Why did he
take a bullet for
someone
like Doll, someone he didn't even like;" and, he
responds: "Because I'm
stupid." After all the bloody battle scenes observed
and the heavy
losses
on both sides, it is a fair question to ask and his
response might not
be one that can be taken literally; but, it is one
that is wrapped
around
a lot of different emotions.